The Angels have called up infield prospect David Fletcher, officially selecting his contract from Triple-A Salt Lake, the team announced. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the Angels moved Blake Wood from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Jefry Marte has been placed on the 10-day DL with a sprained left wrist, thus opening a 25-man roster spot for Fletcher.
Angels fans have been anxiously awaiting the debut of Fletcher, who isn’t considered one of the organization’s elite prospects (No. 21, per MLB.com) but has laid waste to Triple-A pitchers thus far in 2018. The former sixth-round pick (2015) has slashed .350/.394/.559 with six homers, 25 doubles, five triples and seven steals (in nine tries) so far in the Triple-A season. Incredibly, he’s punched out just 21 times in 274 plate appearances.
As the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate tweeted over the weekend, the 24-year-old Fletcher was leading all of Minor League Baseball with 85 hits, 36 extra-base hits, 25 doubles and 138 total bases. That superlative production landed him on a recent edition of Jason Martinez’s Knocking Down the Door here at MLBTR.
Exactly where Fletcher lines up on the diamond in the big leagues remains to be seen. He’s split his time between the two middle infield positions in the minors thus far in 2018, and while Ian Kinsler slumped badly early in the season, he’s been swinging a much better bat of late. Kinsler has a .797 OPS over the past month, and in his past 13 games, he’s slashing a ridiculous .352/.397/.759 with six homers and four doubles in 58 plate appearances.
The Angels had to place Andrelton Simmons on the disabled list due to a freak ankle sprain recently — Simmons injured himself on the dugout steps — and Zack Cozart has shifted over to shortstop in the interim. It’s possible, then, that Fletcher could see some time at shortstop, with Cozart sliding back over to the hot corner on days when Fletcher is penciled in at short.
